CIN v ATL Game thread

[HoosierCat]

I watched into the 4th quarter and went to sleep with one thought on my mind.

That was one of the blandest games I have watched.

There wasn't much special that the Bengals tried to do on either side of the ball. It looked like they were just using the game to work some things out without much concern for the score. They dialed things back on the defensive side of the ball and there wasn't much fire from the team overall. I yawned a lot watching this game.

Sounds like you watched the same game I did. I would disagree a bit about the defense early on. I think they definitely did some good things and showed plenty of fire. But after about the first quarter they just backed off into a zone and pretty much quit blitzing, and any half-decent team will move the ball against that kind of D.

Offensively, yeah, they were clearly focused on the deep ball. Dalton was either looking to go downfield or went downfield just about every time he touched the ball. They threw about 2 short passes I can remember, one a sideline route to Green for about 10 yards and the other the throw to Gresham he got hurt on. No play action, no misdirection, just "everybody go long." It'll be interesting to see if the crack open the West Coast window a bit vs. GB next time.

[skyline]

I watched into the 4th quarter and went to sleep with one thought on my mind.

That was one of the blandest games I have watched.

There wasn't much special that the Bengals tried to do on either side of the ball. It looked like they were just using the game to work some things out without much concern for the score. They dialed things back on the defensive side of the ball and there wasn't much fire from the team overall. I yawned a lot watching this game.

Sounds like you watched the same game I did. I would disagree a bit about the defense early on. I think they definitely did some good things and showed plenty of fire. But after about the first quarter they just backed off into a zone and pretty much quit blitzing, and any half-decent team will move the ball against that kind of D.

Yeah, I was very pleased with the pressure they got on the first two Atlanta possessions. I think we're going to be racking up a ton of sacks this season...

[ArmyBengal]

I watched into the 4th quarter and went to sleep with one thought on my mind.

That was one of the blandest games I have watched.

There wasn't much special that the Bengals tried to do on either side of the ball. It looked like they were just using the game to work some things out without much concern for the score. They dialed things back on the defensive side of the ball and there wasn't much fire from the team overall. I yawned a lot watching this game.

Sounds like you watched the same game I did. I would disagree a bit about the defense early on. I think they definitely did some good things and showed plenty of fire. But after about the first quarter they just backed off into a zone and pretty much quit blitzing, and any half-decent team will move the ball against that kind of D.

Offensively, yeah, they were clearly focused on the deep ball. Dalton was either looking to go downfield or went downfield just about every time he touched the ball. They threw about 2 short passes I can remember, one a sideline route to Green for about 10 yards and the other the throw to Gresham he got hurt on. No play action, no misdirection, just "everybody go long." It'll be interesting to see if the crack open the West Coast window a bit vs. GB next time.

Yeah, I forgot to add "after the first quarter" in my original statement about them dialing back.

So we certainly watched the same game.

Everyone can be concerned if you chose, but don't let the fact it's the preseason get lost in those thoughts.

Are there things to improve upon ?? Surely there are, it's game two of the preseason and there will still be some after game 4.

However, it's nothing that concerns me at this point in time.

It sounds like minus Dunlap, the injured guys will all be back soon and no later than week 1.

That's reassuring as well.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

BTW - can they cut Terrence Newman please? That guy is terrible.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Marvin Jones needs to make the roster and this team needs to seriously rethink the Hawkins/Tate lovin'. He is the only the guy on the WR corps outside of Green making plays - he deserves to get some #1 snaps next week. There is no one else doing anything downfield 1-on-1. If he is relegated to the PS I'll be pissed.

The o-line looked terrible.

The rest was pretty predictable and the defense is just hard to judge with so many starters out.

Yea I thought the o-line didn't look as strong last night, but Andre Smith is the best linemen out there, he was blowing guys up. I won't worry yet give them time to gel.

It was kind of like last year, really bad run blocking most of the time, better pass-blocking, but even that was shaky.

Defense was tackling well.

[COB]

Jesus... ESPN is really tooting Daltons horn this morning!

I must have missed that during their 24 hour a day coverage of the possibility that the Nationals will shut down Strasburg. They talk about that constantly, and I'm about sick of it.